Recent Updates

A California company is taking a novel approach to autonomous aviation by making human pilots an integral part of its development. While many of the more advanced drone hopefuls have created elaborate clean-sheet designs, San Francisco startup Xwing is heaping new technology into a proven design with room for a human to act as pilot […]

The Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have issued a joint advisory designed to clarify federal laws and regulations potentially applicable to “the use of capabilities to detect and mitigate threats posed by Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) operations.” The “Advisory on the Application […]

The town of Buena Vista, Colorado, unanimously approved a concept for an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS/drone) flying park on Tuesday. The drone park will be divided into four zones based on activity with areas for basic training, qualification operations, obstacle navigation and racing events. The proposal was put forward by the Central Colorado UAS Club. […]

China-based EHang introduced a version of its EHang 216 autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) last week designed to operate as an aerial firefighting solution. The company says its 216F AAV is specifically targeted at high-rise firefighting, aiming to address issues such as the insufficient height of fire rescue ladders, reach of fire nozzles and potential for […]

Bell Textron held a ceremony to mark the official opening of its new facility in Wichita, Kansas, on Thursday. The facility will be used for Bell engineering, supply chain, professional manufacturing and corporate services operations. Bell, a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc., is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. “The new Bell facility in Wichita […]

Aspen Avionics announced on Tuesday that it has entered into an agreement to become a member of the AIRO Group. As part of the group, Aspen says it will be able to expand its investments, resources and technologies in general aviation avionics as well as allowing the company to move into offering “avionics solutions for […]

An opinion writer for Forbes has postulated that the future of the pilot trade is just that, “semi-professional” monitors of autonomous machines that actually discourage human intervention because we are so sloppy. In a column, Paul Kennard says humans are too imprecise to get the best performance and longevity out of aircraft systems and cost […]

Autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) technology company EHang has announced plans to build a new production facility at its site in Yunfu City in Guangdong, China. The AAV production center will also include an air mobility solutions R&D facility and a training center for “operations and technical talents.” According to the company, it is investing RMB […]

As part of an announcement addressing a $2.4 billion second-quarter (Q2) net loss, Boeing has confirmed that it plans to end production of its iconic 747 jet in 2022. The company also intends to reduce the combined 777/777X production rate to two per month along with dropping 787 production to six per month for 2021, […]

The FAA had no idea who was flying swarms of drones over Colorado and Nebraska around the New Year and still doesn’t according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request filed by a group that normally investigates UFO sightings. The Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies unearthed emails and documents from the FAA, including […]